Me and my son who is 6 are keen to take up metal detecting and have bought a mk1 Racer from ebay (used of course). The seller describes it as mint but thought perhaps i should run some test on this thing before I run outside with it.

Can anyone give me any advise as newbs with no experience what-so-ever im unsure what i should check, how i should check it or if there are any known issues with these items I should be aware of?
Any essential accessories i should get? Im thinking the coil cover and rain cover is wise?

Hello and welcome luke, some of the original racers on release had weak coil lugs which fractured or snapped so its worth checking for any coil damage, on later models the coils were replaced with a much stronger epoxy resin filled coil.
Its a surprisingly high performance machine for the price, being fairly easy to use and reasonably light weight.
If you operate the machine inland simply choose a mode like two or three tone then ground balance by pushing the trigger under the control box forward and pumping the coil around an inch to say 8 inches from the ground until a beeps is heard, this means ground balance has been achieved
Or if you want to use it at the beach in mineralized sand set it to beach mode then ground balance as above if you got a manual read and read it more to get the very best from it.
Best of luck
mrix
p.s running a machine inside will likely cause it to pick up surrounding interference and the coil is waterproof so can be submerged

Hi, i would Google the brand and model of your detector the information you need should be on there. Also there will be helpful videos on YouTube, search metal detecting for beginners and search for your detector on there. There is a lot of helpful information on the forum just browse through posts.
Hope this helps

The coil is waterproof, so yes you can submerge it.
But the contol box is NOT so if detecting in water make sure you do not drop it!.

Surprised you do not have a coil cover, as the standard original Makro Racer package came with a coil cover (as do most new machines). Just in case double check as they are a very tight fit and at a quick glance might not be obvious. If you do not have one I would suggest that you do get one as they do protect the coil. In very round figures a cover is £10 and coil £100, so if you smack something hard (and most of us do at some point!) replacing a cover is much better than having to replace a coil!!.

Rain covers can be useful but certainly are not essential (its not uncommon to see people using a plastic bag over the control boxes of detectors in the rain), and the control box is water resistant so OK in light drizzle but as not waterproof is not up to prolonged torrential rain.

Lots of advice on the Makro forum on the left and other videos on the internet.

The red racer is light, deep and sensitive and can hold it's own against the top machines. It has no memory so does not retain changes in settings, which is good for beginners as you can mess it up as much as you like knowing that it will be reset next time you switch-on. Two tone is the deepest mode, and you can increase the gain quite a lot without penalty.

If it does not work when switched on .... remove battery cover and check it has batteries

If you post on here for help please state that you are talking the original red Racer (or as you did in original post Mk1 Racer), as a lot now use the new Racer 2 and settings are different so if you try a Racer 2 setting on the original racer (or vice versa) it probably will not work.

If it does not work when switched on .... remove battery cover and check it has batteries

If you post on here for help please state that you are talking the original red Racer (or as you did in original post Mk1 Racer), as a lot now use the new Racer 2 and settings are different so if you try a Racer 2 setting on the original racer (or vice versa) it probably will not work.

Hi SamAnd Luke, Welcome to the forum.
With regards to your aquesition of an original Makro Racer you have one of the best if not the best mid price metal detectors on the market.
I have now owned two of them,the first I sold the to personal reasons,...then I went onto a more up market machine...and soon regretted it,as I spent more time looking at a screen trying to decipher both visual and audio information....So without further thoughts I purchased another Racer(red).
I have found(detected,) plenty of spendable coin from the beach (dry beach or wet salty sand).
I found the Racer to be an absolute demon on pastures,v detected Roman coins,hammered coins, mediaeval buckles,dagger chapes and plenty of historic artifacts..
I suggest you try various different coin types, different metals make different sounds.
Anyway,the Racer is a very,very, capable metal detector.
Anyway,good luck,and good hunting..

Hi SamAnd Luke, Welcome to the forum.
With regards to your aquesition of an original Makro Racer you have one of the best if not the best mid price metal detectors on the market.
I have now owned two of them,the first I sold the to personal reasons,...then I went onto a more up market machine...and soon regretted it,as I spent more time looking at a screen trying to decipher both visual and audio information....So without further thoughts I purchased another Racer(red).
I have found(detected,) plenty of spendable coin from the beach (dry beach or wet salty sand).
I found the Racer to be an absolute demon on pastures,v detected Roman coins,hammered coins, mediaeval buckles,dagger chapes and plenty of historic artifacts..
I suggest you try various different coin types, different metals make different sounds.
Anyway,the Racer is a very,very, capable metal detector.
Anyway,good luck,and good hunting..

Thank you Macroman it arrived and im really happy with it. I tested it and all seemed well. it came with the racer 2 coil as the 'ears' for the bolt are much thicker than the mk1's pictured on the net which look very thin indeed.

im gonna get a ncmd membership for us both and am looking at the farms nearby to contact some landowners. ...not sure how easy thats going to be... and looking for a club near brighton (not sure there are any though...

in the mean time im reading the manual and watching vids to try and get a bit of an understanding.

i did an air test....not sure if it was a good result or not really.... a very small 1/25oz gold coin came up at 6ish inches, a 1/10 gold eagle at 8ish, 1/10 platinum eagle at 8is also and a 1 oz silver Chinese bullion coin at 11ish inches. A bit ambiguous as that's from memory.

Hi Sam and Luke...No, I'm pretty sure that they are NOT compatible..Two totally different machines..and Two totally different companies... although saying that Nokta..and Makro are both manufactured in Turkey
And I also believe they are both from the same family,also I now believe that they have now decided to work together,but not 100%sure on this.
Good hunting..